Friday, 29 July 2016

THE BEST OF SAKI (BOOK REVIEW)

Hector Hugh Munro ( 1870-1916) was a British author who published under the pen name SAKI. He is remembered as a master of the short story form.

ABOUT THE BOOK

This book contains amazing short stories of the known author SAKI.

Generally people enjoy reading a story written by Saki's , but this book makesa collection of his stories. No wonder, reading the book one may lost into the language, style and elegance.

CONTENTS OF THE BOOK

The open window

The seven cream jugs

The east wing

Mrs. Packletide's tiger

The toys of peace

The lumber room

Hermann the irascible: thestory of the great weep

The storyteller

Louis

The guests

The unrest cure

A bread and butter miss

The philanthropist and the happy cat

The image of the lost soul

Shock tactics

The bull

Laura

The interlopers

The ByzantineOmelette

Sredni vashtar

The name-day

The disappearance of crispina umberleigh

Dusk

The mouse

Fate

On approval

Esme

BEST OF THE BOOK

For me the best of the book was Mrs packletide's tiger story.

Mrs Packletide was an English lady who was overcome with a strong desire to shoot a tiger. Basically she was not adventurous or brave but she was smitten with jealousy when her friend, Loona Bimberton, had recently been carried in an aeroplane by an Algerian pilot. Mrs Packletide wanted to outshine her.

She planned to present a tiger- claw brooch on Loona’s next birthday. All her motives were largely dominated by her dislike of Loona.

Circumstances proved to be favourable. An old and weak tiger was visiting a neighbouring village in search of food.

On the fateful night, Mrs Packletide came along with a paid companion Miss Mebbin. A platform had already been constructed in a comfortable and conveniently placed tree.

Both the ladies sat on the platform.

A goat with a loud bleat was tied at proper distance from the tiger. Meanwhile the tiger appeared on the scene and slowly walked towards the goat. Mrs Packletide fired a shot with her rifle. The tiger fell down to one side.

The excited villagers celebrated by beating drums and singing. Mrs Packletide was also too happy.Miss Mebbin was very clever and alert. She drew Mrs Packletide’s attention to the fact that the bullet had actually hit the goat and the tiger had died due to heart attack, caused by the loud report of the rifle.

She blackmailed Mrs Packletide by saying what would happen if Loona learnt that Mrs Packletide had shot the goat and not the tiger.

Shrewd and clever, Miss Mebbin hinted that she wanted money to buy a weekend cottage near Dorking. To keep her mouth shut, Mrs Packletide was forced to pay for that cottage.

She confided to her friends that “incidental expenses were too heavy for such kind of hunting”.